Seek discomfort my friends for it will grant you superpowers.

I grew up poor. I shared a bunk bed with my parents in a studio apartment until one day we got bed bugs and I got feverishly ill from being infested. I ate the same meal of rice, potatoes, and bottom-quality meat. I was blessed to have a home and never go hungry. I was the only child in a super religious Mormon family. I turned away from the church at 17 when I was taken to an anti-same-sex marriage rally. This led to me being shunned for the next 3 years of my life. Fast forward 8 years later and I have never shied away from discomfort. Quite the opposite. I seek it as a familiar relative I seek wisdom from. I moved to a new city several times with less than a months worth of food and gas money to spend. Sleeping in my car until I made it into an empty apartment with no furniture sleeping on the floor for an entire year. Sure as hell still beat the bed bug-ridden mattress though. I can eat the same meal every day without ever getting sick of it. Not to say I don’t love going out and trying new things and I am far from picky. But I can get by with the minimal return. I don’t lie cheat or steal. And that feels good. I went celibate for the better part of a year to recalibrate what I wanted from intimacy. Now I don’t ever settle for anything with a pulse. I turn the dial in my shower to ice cold and welcome the shock. My pulse never changes in job interviews either now. I wore barefoot-style shoes which trained me to slow… down… I breathe through painful tattoos and laugh when I need stitches or get a tooth drilled out. What a trip, I know. But trust me I am happy 80% of the time. And when I’m not I think of it as a quiz of what I’m made of. A sort of inventory check of where I’m lacking gratitude for just being alive. I don’t fear rejection because I used to go to bars and malls alone and cold approach a set amount of girls before going home. My charisma is now regarded by friends as one of my greatest qualities. I don’t have it in me to go against my values. I have calloused the part of me that cares what others think of my decisions. I sleep well at night knowing that I am polite and generous with my actions. I seek to never be a part of the problem and only lighten up the world a bit each day. This is because I know what it is like to hurt and hurt deeply. I have been left by loved ones either romantically misaligned or by time eroded. I will die too one day and hope if just one thing is accomplished. I never shied away from the good or the bad. I only won and learned. Overcame and understood or at least tried my best.